MLS Draft: Vancouver Selects Salgado With Top Pick

Omar Salgado, a 17-year-old forward on the U.S. Under-20 team, was selected by the expansion Vancouver Whitecaps on Thursday with the first pick in the Major League Soccer draft and five players from NCAA champion Akron were among the top eight picks.

Seattle Sounders FC traded its first-round pick to Portland, then chose Michael Tetteh as the 20th overall pick. Tetteh, a midfielder from UC Santa Barbara, is from Ghana.

"My goal is to go there and work hard and be on the starting squad," Tetteh told SoundersFC.com. "With the style of play that Seattle plays, I think it's going to be a very good fit for me."

Wayne Rooney's younger brother John was taken by the New York Red Bulls on the second round.

Salgado, who is from El Paso, Texas, spent 1 years with Chivas Guadalajara, then signed with MLS and was loaned to Vancouver for three months last summer when the team competed in the U.S. Soccer Federation Division 2.

Unless FIFA grants special permission, he will be ineligible to play for Vancouver's first team until Sept. 10, when he turns 18. FIFA bars players from transferring to clubs outside their country until their 18th birthday.

Darlington Nagbe, a junior forward and midfielder who helped Akron win its first NCAA title, went with the No. 2 pick to the expansion Portland Timbers. Nagbe won the Hermann Trophy last week as the top men's college soccer player.

Perry Kitchen, a freshman defensive midfielder on the Zips, was taken by D.C. United with the third pick.